Plea expected for Portsmouth woman charged in heroin death

BRENTWOOD — A Portsmouth woman is expected to plead guilty to charges that she gave a fatal dose of heroin to a 22-year-old woman last November, according to a judge’s order.

Jennifer Landry, 41, has struck a tentative plea deal with county prosecutors on charges that she allegedly causing the death of Svetlana Filippenko on Nov. 20.

Landry is charged with sale of a controlled drug with death resulting, and a lesser charge of sale of a controlled drug for providing $45 worth of heroin to Filippenko.

Judge Marguerite Wageling briefly met with prosecutors and the defense last Monday, and allowed the defense a brief delay for Landry’s plea hearing expected that day. The plea hearing is now set for Oct. 21.

Terms of the plea deal have not yet been made public, but Landry is facing up to life in prison on the death-resulting charge. She also had a probation violation and another outstanding drug charge that may be resolved as a result of the expected plea deal, according to court records.

Filippenko was found dead by Portsmouth police after she ingested the drugs at her Ocean Road apartment, according to police.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Filippenko’s death was accidental, but caused by “acute heroin intoxication,” according to Portsmouth police.

Filippenko was found dead on Nov. 21 by a family member who went in her bedroom to shut off an alarm clock, according to police.

Police are looking for help identifying a suspect accused of robbing a TD Bank location on Tuesday.

A Concord man who was standing in the middle of a West Side road talking on a cell phone Monday afternoon faces drug and other charges after police said he refused to answer questions and gave a fake...